New Scientist


Bursts of ‘pink noise’ during sleep seem to help clear waste from brain

Wed, 09 Sep 2026 18:00:00 +0000

The human brain flushes out waste products while we sleep and now it seems that certain sounds might enhance the process


Heat spikes over Tibet may help explain severe Californian flooding

Wed, 09 Sep 2026 18:00:00 +0000

Unusually high temperatures over the mountainous region can kick-start a chain of events that ultimately leads to a severe deluge on the US West Coast, scientists say 


Earliest evidence of habitual drug use found in teeth in Indonesia

Wed, 09 Sep 2026 18:00:00 +0000

Strange, rounded grooves in prehistoric teeth are thought to have been made by regularly sucking whole betel nuts to extract a pain-relieving compound. This marks the earliest known example of probable substance addiction


Unexpected hints of dark matter should breathe life into particle physics

Wed, 09 Sep 2026 17:00:00 +0000

With little in the way of significant discoveries since 2012, there have been mutterings that particle physics is at a dead end. However, new dark matter results suggest an exciting new way to hunt for reality's undiscovered ingredients


Twisteddoodles on spies through the ages

Wed, 09 Sep 2026 17:00:00 +0000

This week's cartoon from Twisteddoodles


Tom Gauld on an introduction to basic philosophical astronomy

Wed, 09 Sep 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Tom Gauld's weekly cartoon


This week’s new questions

Wed, 09 Sep 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Why do people appear younger and better-looking in a mirror than in a photograph? Are humans the only animals that cry? If so, why?


Why don’t dogs look up when a low-flying plane passes overhead? part 3

Wed, 09 Sep 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Readers continue to share stories of how their own dogs respond to aircrafts


What changes will occur on Earth as the moon moves further away? part 3

Wed, 09 Sep 2026 17:00:00 +0000

A reader thinks outside the box on ways to mitigate against this slow-forming issue


Why don’t we sneeze when we are asleep? part 2

Wed, 09 Sep 2026 17:00:00 +0000

It turns out some of our readers do sneeze in their sleeps – but only in certain circumstances